Variables in knowledge bases

[SRegier]

I am fairly new to ServiceNow, but I am challenged to find this answer. 

Are variables in SN only to be used for catalogs or forms? Can they be used in articles? I am wondering if they work the same as variables in Adobe and if we can use them alone or in a knowledge block for use in articles for branding, etc.

Thanks for everyone's help; this forum and community are very helpful.

[jMarshal]

"Variables" are for use in catalog items and scripts, for the most part.

Fields are columns on tables and can represent variables for automation within a limited scope (in the context of that form/table) when doing data-driven development....and KB articles are just records (rows) in the knowledge table. You could add fields (columns) to that table, which would allow data-driven development in that scope (not "Application Scope" -- just lay speak "scope")...so kinda?

...what is it that you are trying to accomplish with a "variable on an article"?...are you thinking of dynamically displaying information in an article based on certain criteria/conditions? --- if so, I'd recommend you rather embed that condition with the oob User Criteria features, which will limit audiences access to certain articles (one written for one particular audience the other for another, for instance)...check this out: Product Documentation | ServiceNow

[SRegier]

We were considering using the variable for product names, which we may or may not use in a knowledge block. So if we went through a rebranding, we can easily change any trademarked software names or product types.

[jMarshal · Accepted solution]

I don't believe there is a concept of "overall platform variable" where it will just "find and replace" all instances of one record label/field/string for another.

How you accomplish this in the event of a rebrand, will depend on your use cases.

Having said that, you could set up a custom lookup table to house product names and then reference that table by the static identifier (sku?) and return the "display name"...but you would want to set that up and then leverage that in every other spot that you're listing a product name...and know that not all places where you could put a product name are dynamic enough to leverage scripting (or other access to the lookup table)